Let's Be Ourselves

It's so easy to become someone else, or to allow yourself to be extremely influenced by your fellow peers. This especially seems to occur in girls. It begins in middle school when the quote "mean girls" or even just inner (or outer) "peer pressure" makes you feel like you are suppose to be a certain way. Whether this is how you dress, how you act, or how you speak. 

The bad part of this is that all at once you are not you. You are not the person God created you to be. I say this not as a judgement because I have found myself in those shoes; and in the shoes of another trying be more "like them". Even as recently as a year ago, I was not being my whole self. Now it was not the same level as middle school where I was not necessarily trying to please a "mean girl", but I was trying to please myself. I was trying to discover who I was.

This I know is a lifelong journey...discovering who we are. It is a never ending cycle of ups and downs. Yet we need to encourage ourselves, our sisters or daughters or friends to be ourselves more times than not. We will have times of conflict where we are uncertain of who we are or comparing ourselves to another we make look up too. That is simply a human emotion. 

However as fellow women we can encourage each other to be ourselves. Empower each other by complimenting the uniqueness of another. It is not about comparing who did what better, but what is original and fabulous about our individual women colleagues, friends, etc. 

Yes, there is business. In a business world competition is inevitable and sometimes necessary. I am not saying that it about submitting ourselves to underachievement or not doing our best, but build each other up not down. Encourage each other so it is not so difficult to be ourselves when we feel being ourselves is not okay.

Encourage yourself too. Let your inner voice be a positive not a negative one. I know I struggle with not being my own worse enemy. It is a daily battle and always will be. There is not an easy solution. However you can ease the burden of being human, being a woman by uplifting each other. With time maybe the inner and outer voices can be positive instead of derogatory.